MARIJUANA IS GATEWAY DRUG

Most of the pro-legalization letters I read in The Columbian are
letters that have been scatter-shot around the country to smaller
newspapers by the likes of Robert Sharpe and other members of the
drug culture who are not even citizens of Washington state.

An opinion is one thing, but their letters are full of
misinformation. Sharpe's last rant on June 21, "Admit drug war is
failing," claimed that The Netherlands had successfully reduced
overall drug use by regulating marijuana sales. However, based on a
plethora of news stories coming out of that country, this is simply
not true. The situation has become so decadent that the government is
now taking strong measures to reverse the laissez-faire policy,
beginning by shutting down the country's infamous marijuana coffee
shops, as reported June 24, "Changing social values put Netherlands
on collision course with its liberal past."

Meth, heroin and cocaine addicts are not the ones out there trying to
legalize drugs. They are well aware that marijuana is the gateway
drug into the abyss of their addiction. Today's marijuana is so
potent that it has become one of the leading causes of drug-related
medical and psychiatric emergency room episodes.

We definitely don't need easier access to this or any other drug.

Sandra S. Bennett La Center